inch
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪntʃ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪntʃ
Etymology 1
From Middle English ynche, enche, from Old English ynce, borrowed from Latin uncia (“twelfth part”). Doublet of ounce.
Noun
inch (plural inches)
- A unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot, or exactly 2.54 centimetres.
- (meteorology) The amount of water which would cover a surface to the depth of an inch, used as a measurement of rainfall.
- The amount of an alcoholic beverage which would fill a glass or bottle to the depth of an inch.
- (figuratively) A very short distance.
- "Don't move an inch!"
- Shakespeare
- Beldame, I think we watched you at an inch.
Derived terms
Translations
unit of length
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unspecified but very short distance
Verb
inch (third-person singular simple present inches, present participle inching, simple past and past participle inched)
- (intransitive, followed by a preposition) To advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).
- Fearful of falling, he inched along the window ledge.
- 1957, J. D. Salinger, "Zooey", in, 1961, Franny and Zooey:
- The window blind had been lowered — Zooey had done all his bathtub reading by the light from the three-bulb overhead fixture—but a fraction of morning light inched under the blind and onto the title page of the manuscript.
- 2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2-3 on agg): match report”, in the Telegraph:
- Already guarding a 1-0 lead from the first leg, Blackpool inched further ahead when Stephen Dobbie scored from an acute angle on the stroke of half-time. The game appeared to be completely beyond Birmingham’s reach three minutes into the second period when Matt Phillips reacted quickly to bundle the ball past Colin Doyle and off a post.
- To drive by inches, or small degrees.
- Dryden
- He gets too far into the soldier's grace / And inches out my master.
- Dryden
- To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.
Derived terms
Derived terms
- inch along
- inch forward
- inch up
- inchworm
Translations
to move very slowly
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Etymology 2
From Scottish Gaelic innis
Noun
inch (plural inches)
Middle English
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